Wells Fargo Merchant Services Review

Overview:

Wells Fargo Merchant Services (WFMS) is a division of Wells Fargo, one of the largest and oldest banks in the United States. While the bank itself has been in business since 1852, its Merchant Services division started offering credit card processing services in 1971. The bank is headquartered in San Francisco, California, but has branches and regional offices throughout the country.

As you’ve probably heard by now, Wells Fargo hasn’t been having such a great year. In September 2016, the bank reached a $190 million settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) over allegations that its employees had systematically set up as many as two million unauthorized accounts in order to reach their expected sales quotas. As of this writing, approximately 5,300 bank employees have been fired and the bank’s CEO, John Stumpf, has been forced to resign.

While the majority of the fraud appears to have occurred in the bank’s consumer division, there are indications that the opening of bogus accounts also affected small businesses. About 10,000 small business accounts have been identified that might have been opened without the consumers’ knowledge. It’s not entirely clear at this time whether merchant accounts were affected, but it appears likely that they were. It’s also very apparent from the huge number of complaints from merchants regarding high-pressure sales tactics and failure to disclose important contract terms that the same cultural problems extended into the Merchant Services division.

How this will play out, and what effect it will have on the quality of Wells Fargo Merchant Services’ products and services remains to be seen. Quite frankly, it wasn’t easy to recommend them as a merchant account provider before the current controversy, and it’s even harder now. Hopefully, the company will take some positive steps to improve the quality of their services – particularly in the area of sales and marketing – as a result of this incident.

To find Wells Fargo Merchant Services on the web, you’ll have to go to the bank’s main website. Unfortunately, the section of the website devoted to merchant services is difficult to navigate and lacks important information. Products and services lack clear descriptions, and the site is riddled with so many footnotes that it feels like reading a David Foster Wallace novel.

Despite its large size, Wells Fargo isn’t a direct processor. Rather, it functions as an acquiring bank, and uses First Data as its payment processor. This relationship is not disclosed at all on the website, and you’ll want to read this article to fully understand it. The bottom line for you as a merchant is that you’ll have to deal with both Wells Fargo and First Data, and that many of the issues that plague First Data can crop up here as well.

Several of Wells Fargo Merchant Services’ business practices have come under heavy criticism from merchants, including a $500 early termination fee, outrageously expensive terminal leases, and enhanced billback billing. On the plus side, if you also have a bank account with Wells Fargo, your transactions should be processed and deposited into your account within 24 hours. This is a significant improvement over the usual 48 hours or more that it takes for most other providers. “Should” is the operative word here, however, as there are numerous complaints from merchants that they frequently had to wait longer than one day to get the money deposited into their Wells Fargo accounts.

Wells Fargo also relies mainly on in-house sales representatives rather than independent sales agents who work on a commission-only basis. While this normally results in a vastly improved sales experience for merchants, it’s clear from the bank’s current controversies that this hasn’t been the case. While Wells Fargo sales agents undoubtedly receive better training than independent agents usually do, there are a huge number of complaints alleging a failure on their part to disclose important contract terms (such as the length of the contract and the early termination fee).

All of this adds up to a less-than-average score when compared against other processors in the industry. For now, Wells Fargo Merchant Services only rates 2.5 out of 5 stars. Hopefully, their efforts to address the bank’s current controversies will result in an improvement in contract terms and sales practices, making them more competitive for businesses of all sizes.

Read on for a more detailed explanation of what WFMS currently offers. You should also check out our comparison chart to see the best merchant service providers around or find one that best fits your needs!

Products and Services:

You’ll find just the basics at Wells Fargo Merchant Services, with nothing that really sets them apart from the pack. WFMS doesn’t aim to be a one-stop shop for all things related to merchant services. If you’re looking for a bunch of value-added services, look elsewhere. Here’s a list of the products and services that they do offer:

Merchant accounts: As noted above, WFMS uses First Data as their third-party processor.

Terminal sales/leases: WFMS offers a variety of terminals, including EMV-capable devices, but doesn’t provide any specifics on their website. Leases are handled through a partnership with First Data Global Leasing. Terminal leases are not a good idea. We recommend that you buy your equipment outright and pay the re-programming fee to have it work with your merchant account.

Mobile Processing: Leased terminals include models that support NFC-based mobile payments, such as Apple Pay, Android Pay, and others. WFMS also offers their Wells Fargo Mobile Merchant with EMV app, which is available for both iOS and Android. The app apparently uses the EMV-compliant Clover Go card reader, but the company doesn’t provide any details about this on their website.

Payment gateway: WFMS supports eCommerce by providing integration with a number of third-party payment gateways. Choices include the ever-popular Authorize.Net, CyberSource, and First Data’s Payeezy Gateway.

Point-of-Sale: First Data’s Clover Station is available, as well as several other Clover offerings.

In addition to these primary products, WFMS also offers check processing, online reporting, and support for recurring payments.

Fees and Rates:

Unfortunately, Wells Fargo makes absolutely no disclosures of rates or fees in their corporate advertising or internet resources. No information on rate structures (such as interchange-plus or tiered models) appears anywhere. This isn’t exactly unusual – but it’s not ideal, either. While your discount rate will depend on a large number of factors, I really like to see some disclosure of monthly fees (PCI compliance fee, statement fee, etc.) alongside information about how rates are determined, including information on interchange-plus plans.

WFMS does offer a few brief notes on pricing in their FAQ, but basically just to say, “It depends.” They also claim to offer “relationship pricing,” but only give a vague definition of what this means:

A full-service relationship with Wells Fargo translates into relationship pricing that benefits your business. Our Wells Fargo Business Services® Packages are designed specifically for your business banking needs and can save you hundreds of dollars on frequently used financial products and banking services.

Basically they imply that if you use multiple Wells Fargo services, they can give you a discount (sort of like the cable/phone/internet companies do). They don’t make any specific claims, however.

Contract Length and Early Termination Fee:

With Wells Fargo Merchant Services, you’ll get the industry standard for contract length and early termination fees. All contracts include an initial three-year term, and then auto-renew for one-year periods thereafter. Merchants processing less than $1,000,000 per year in transactions will be charged a $500 early termination fee. Merchants processing over $1,000,000 per year will be charged both the $5000 ETF andliquidated damages equal to “six times the highest amount of Revenue in any single calendar month during the initial term or any renewal term.” (See Section 41.3 of the Wells Fargo Merchant Services Program Guide.)

As with many merchant account providers, Wells Fargo will “buy out” your existing contract with one of their competitors to get your business. This means they will pay all or a portion of an early termination fee from your current provider, up to $500. To qualify for this, you’ll have to be doing at least $100,000 annually in card processing (excluding pin-based debit) and meet a few other stipulations.

Sales and Advertising Transparency:

Wells Fargo Merchant Services offers very little advertising or sales copy on their website. No fees or rates are mentioned, and virtually no information on the costs of processing is included. While this isn’t great for transparency, it’s better than making a bunch of empty or misleading promises using flashy sales gimmicks.

They do use at least one sales gimmick, which I mentioned in the “Contract Length and Early Termination Fee” section above. They say “Save up to $500 when you switch to Wells Fargo Merchant Services.” This is potentially misleading, though. You won’t get a check for $500 or a credit on your future expenses. Instead, they will pay for up to $500 of your qualified switching expenses incurred while switching from your current processor to WFMS. “Qualified switching expenses” includes two things: (1) early contract and lease termination costs, and (2) non-Wells Fargo reprogramming costs required by WFMS.

You’ll also have to be processing at least $100,000 annually in Visa/MasterCard/Discover transactions, not including pin-based debit to qualify for this offer. Smaller businesses are out of luck.

As noted above, sales agents employed by WFMS to market their services have generated a very large volume of complaints regarding their failure to disclose important contract terms, especially the early termination fee. It’s impossible to say with certainty that this practice has been deliberately encouraged, but the current controversies swirling around Wells Fargo certainly suggest that this has indeed been the case. As always, do not rely on any verbal assurances from a sales agent, and thoroughly review all contract documents before signing any of them.

Because of its unique position as a division within a much larger organization, WFMS doesn’t have any social media presence of its own. While the main Wells Fargo bank has social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and YouTube, you’ll only occasionally find information related to merchant services on these sites.

Customer Service and Technical Support:

WFMS offers customer service and support primarily through a telephone number that’s available 24/7. You can also contact them through their website using secure email. There is no chat support available at this time.

Unfortunately, while it’s nice to see that you can contact support at all hours, the quality of that support is not always very reliable. Poor customer service is a very common thread in merchant complaints about WFMS, and it’s definitely an area that has room for improvement. On the plus side, WFMS will assign you a relationship manager when they set up your account. Having a dedicated point of contact for customer service issues is a definite advantage – at least when you can actually contact that person.

Like many traditional merchant services providers, WFMS has essentially no knowledgebase or self-help features on their website. Educational resources are limited to a pretty basic FAQ, and that’s about it.

As a reviewer, it’s difficult for me to ascertain the quality of customer service when it comes to complex, account-specific issues. But that’s where you come in! Have you worked with Wells Fargo? Feel free to leave us your review. Don’t forget to read the user review and comment policy.

Negative Reviews and Complaints:

Wells Fargo Merchant Services doesn’t have a separate profile with the BBB, but you can find some information about them under the main Wells Fargo bank profile. Remarkably, Wells Fargo is not accredited by the BBB. They also have a C- rating, with 4,106 complaints filed against them within the past three years. While probably only a small percentage of these complaints relate to merchant services, it’s impossible to even sift through them as details of the complaints are not available. What is available, however, is a rather lengthy list of government actions against Wells Fargo, including the current controversy over bogus unauthorized accounts. While none of these legal actions appear to relate to the Merchant Services division, it certainly doesn’t give you a warm fuzzy about doing business with Wells Fargo.

A search on Ripoff Reports yields 15 complaints that are actually against Wells Fargo Merchant Services. If this number seems low, it’s probably because a lot of the complaints are being filed against First Data, which is the actual processor for WFMS.

Luckily, many of our readers have chimed in with complaints down in the Comments section below, and from them we’ve been able to identify several common issues to look out for, including the following:

Expensive terminal leases through First Data Global Leasing: Merchants have complained about not being aware that they were signing into a four-year terminal lease. The whole “not being aware” part can be chalked up to the merchant not fully understanding how leasing works. In almost all cases, terminal leasing is unnecessary. Even with the re-programming fees, it’s much more affordable to buy your terminals outright. They don’t cost much these days.

Withholding of funds/termination of accounts: This can happen for a number of reasons. Chargebacks and/or suspicious charges can easily raise a red flag that will either get you suspended or shut down. Both First Data and Wells Fargo have been known to be a bit trigger-happy when it comes to holding funds or terminating accounts. You’re going to want to learn how to avoid holds and minimize chargebacks if you plan on signing up with WFMS.

Enhanced Billback: Wells Fargo and First Data are also known for using a billing technique called enhanced billback, which isn’t the most transparent billing method, to say the least.

Early Termination Fee: As we’ve noted above, WFMS will charge you a $500 early termination fee if you close your account before your contract term expires. That’s pretty steep, especially considering there are plenty of other providers that don’t charge an ETF at all. We’ve also seen a clear pattern of complaints alleging that Wells Fargo’s sales representatives usually don’t disclose this fee when trying to sell you an account.

Poor Customer Service: We found many complaints alleging poor or even nonexistent customer service. I really wouldn’t expect much from such a large bureaucratic organization as Wells Fargo. While big processors don’t always have bad customer service, it seems to be a strong trend.

Increased Fees After Sign-Up: Although Wells Fargo has a right to increase fees, it’s still a hard thing to swallow for any merchant. And judging by the number of complaints I’ve read about this matter, it seems WFMS likes to raise its rates frequently.

Positive Reviews and Testimonials:

There are no testimonials from customers on the Wells Fargo Merchant Services website. A previous version of this review found a few testimonials on YouTube, but if you search for “Wells Fargo Merchant Services” there now, you’ll mostly find complaints from customers about the bad service they received from WFMS.

Needless to say, I’d like to see WFMS put forth a little more effort to prove that their services are worthwhile to prospective clients. Without any testimonials to rely on, your best bet is to ask your sales agent for references. These should be from businesses that operate in your same industry, and they should be merchants that your agent has personally signed up. Obviously, you’ll want to check in with those references to see what their experience has actually been like after the sale.

If you’ve had a positive experience with WFMS, please tell us about it in the Comments section below.

Final Verdict on Wells Fargo Merchant Services:

SPOILER ALERT: If you’ve been reading this far, you’ve probably already guessed that I’m not going to recommend Wells Fargo Merchant Services. You would, of course, be correct. With the vast resources of Wells Fargo bank behind them, there’s no reason why WFMS can’t offer a more complete range of products and services, more competitive terms and costs, and top-notch customer service to back them up.

But they don’t. Instead, they offer a surprisingly limited array of products and services, for an above-average price. Customer service appears to be an afterthought. Overall, it’s like they’re not even trying. If they’ve been relying on name recognition in the past, it should be abundantly clear from the current controversy engulfing Wells Fargo bank that this won’t be an advantage for them going forward. While Wells Fargo was one of the relatively few big banks to emerge from the Great Recession with their reputation intact, their standing has taken a huge nosedive with the latest revelations about their sales tactics. For all of these reasons, WFMS only rates 2.5 out of 5 stars for now.

We’ll be monitoring WFMS to see if the aftermath of their parent company’s current public relations disaster leads to improvements in service. At the very least, I’d hope there are some significant improvements in how their sales representatives are trained and monitored. I’d also like to see more transparency regarding their processing rates and fees on their website. Lastly, they should follow the growing trend within the industry and eliminate their early termination fee.

If you want to deal with a big, stable bank as your payment processor, try out Chase Paymentech. They have better contract terms and a reputation for fairness. Otherwise, check out our merchant account comparison chart to see the best-rated merchant service providers in the industry.

Tom loves asking tough questions and getting straight answers, so he has a lot of fun calling payment processors for Merchant Maverick to cut through their smoke and mirrors and find the real deals. He has run a full-time editorial business from his home in New York’s Hudson Valley since 2010 and could not imagine a better job. When not busy writing and keeping credit card processors honest, Tom enjoys backpacking in the mountains.

32 Comments

Not a review but rather a question. When will the Class Action suit be brought against Merchant Services. Its damage is equal to the phoney accounts that the Sales Reps set up. In my case, I was required to pay $55 x 12 months longer than promised because they lied about the contract end date. . I want that amount refunded. $560 could pay towards a mortgage that I still have with WF. I only changed to their Merchant Services because I had been a long time customer and had my mortgage with them for a long time as well. I was happy with my previous Merchant Servicer. They did not even charge me to discontinue with their plan. I never should have believed the rep who solicited me. I am further very annoyed that you are told this conversation is being recorded. However, when I asked for the transcript of that recording to prove my point, I am told they do not have that recording. A supervisor said none was available while the Sales Rep still believed there was a recording.

Have been trying to get my bookkeeper to unload this garbage merchant account for two years now, and am doing it myself. Flagship gave me wholesale rates: I have less than one attempted chargeback a YEAR, and do about a hundred thou a year in merchant business.Wells Fargo’s statement would daunt a lawyer. It has stuff about rewards cards, god knows how many little chicken**** miscellaneous charges, all of which add up to $300 or so a month.They issued a new terminal and told my secretary they would not take the other one back, so I ended up paying double terminal leases.When I have called the service, the people are skilled and courteous, and they answer the phone.

I have a Wells Fargo checking account, and BY NO MEANS do these creeps put the money in the next day. It’s three days, AND the bank holds the deposit up for odd times waiting for that minute they can bounce a check as the cash flows in and out. This is an obsession with Wells Fargo.

When merchants got money from past defrauding by this company, I did not get any, unless it was in the fine print of one of their monstrous bills.

Flagship has a flat per-transaction fee and a small processing fee per month. I will save at least $200 a month with Flagship. Check them out if you are a merchant.

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This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

I would like to see a class action suit against Wells Fargo Merchant Services. they solicited me when I already had a merchant provider. I was able to cancel with no additional fees and join Wells Fargo and did since I had all my banking and mortgage already with Wells Fargo. I had not experienced any deceit prior to my getting a merchant account. I told them I only wanted a two year contract and was advised that was possible. however, when I tried to cancel at the end of the two years, I was told I had a three year contract. I also had understood that my original conversation with them had been recorded and when I asked to have a transcript of that recording to prove my point, the sales person who told me there was a recording but, referred me to his supervisor to retrieve it.I was then told by the supervisor they did not have my recording. Since I had a lease with First Data, I was hooked into paying $55 for a machine for an additional year. I would not borrow one penny from Wells Fargo and only use them for their on line banking. They suck! If it were not such as hassle to refinance, I would move my mortgage as well. Do not trust them, they continue to line their deep pockets at the expense of unsuspecting customers.

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This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

Awful Service – Wells Fargo Merchant Services is looking like it’s a rip off and waste of time. Can’t get a manager to call back. They can’t (or won’t) answer to their mistakes. Could be a “Good Ole Boys Club ” or just your typical sleazy processing company is disguise… Shame on you Wells Fargo! Get rid of these idiots! They’re making you look Bad!

This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

Like most others, I would give WFB Merchant Services a -10 if I could. Here’s my story ….

Was told by the Sales Rep she could beat the rate of our then current processor. Our previous processor was averaging about 2.7% effective rate monthly, that’s inclusive of all fees, charges, etc. The Wells Fargo Sales Rep quoted a rate of 2.2% plus a few small extra fees, but didn’t mention ANYTHING about the interchange fees. And we sent her statements from our previous processor so she could do a competitive analysis. After we switched to Wells Fargo, the effective rate was 2.84% (first month), 5.15% (second month), and finally 7.99% (third and last month), before we finally cancelled. Took me over a month to reach the Sales Rep’s supervisor (she would never call back) and her only way of an apology or explanation was saying the Sales Rep was new and would get more training. I would NEVER do business with Wells Fargo Merchant Services again and I’m looking and switching all my regular business banking as well.

P.S. Was able to get the final Service Rep to reduce termination fee to $250 when I cancelled.P.P.S . The new Merchant Services provider offered to pick up the cancellation fee for switching over.

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This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

WARNING: DO NOT sign up for Wells Fargo Merchant Services! First of all, after “promising” a savings of $200-$300 per year over my old provider, I’m currently paying TWICE as much. When I called for an explanation of the fees and charges, the customer service rep couldn’t explain ANY of the charges on my statement! Next, when I signed up, they told me that the terminal would be free of charge, then they charged me $180! Now that the EMV payment system has become “mandatory”, they want to charge me $500 to upgrade! When I refused to pay that and asked to close my account I was informed of the $500 early termination fee! And I thought extortion was illegal…

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This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

If I could give Wells Fargo a negative 10 rating I would. I have a small business and was offered the service from my banker. I signed up, not realizing it was going to cost me $500.00 to cancel or how much they actually were going to charge per transaction. I was told the contract was for two years. Nope. Three years. I now see the importance of not trusting a person and I should read every little word in the contract, even if it is like a book. I accepted a credit card from a client for a $600.00 bill. Merchant services took $136.00 from that. I tried to cancel but didn’t want to pay the fee. I told them to cancel me as soon as my contract was up. I called several times since then about it and they said they would cancel it. My contract expired 6 months ago and they are still deducting $15.00 per month from my checking account. I’ve called them three times today, each time I get a different person. Not one of them could help me. Twice we were “disconnected”, two different people told me to call my branch. I called the branch and one person sent me to another person, she said she didn’t know why they told me to call there because that was not something they dealt with. She told me to call another person but she had to call me back with the number. She said, I’ll call you right back. She did not call back. I called Merchant services again and was told to call the branch again. I called the branch about 30-45 minutes later and reminded the lady that she was suppose to call me back. She gave me the name of another person and her phone number. Naturally, she’s not at her desk. I left a detailed message. I wonder if she’ll ever call back. Wells Fargo Merchant Services is HORRIBLE!!! They’re CROOKS and they have TERRIBLE customer service. I guess I’m just going to have to stop banking with Wells Fargo so merchant services can’t keep steeling my money.

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This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

After sending the cancellation form September 1, 2015. The merchant service was still taking out fees two months later. I closed the checking account to stop the pain. It now comes as no surprise that Wells Fargo has business interest in First Data Merchant Services. They are all about collecting fees to pad their bottom line.

This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

One star is generous! Wells Fargo piles the fees on your merchant account. Two other companies said(and eventually Wells Fargo admitted) that I had been charged double the going rate even though I was a long-term customer who maintained a very large monthly balance. My trust in Wells Fargo was misplaced. I am taking my business elsewhere!

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This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

I have been a WF customer since they bought out Wachovia and I have several accounts with them so when i was encouraged to take credit cards with my small company I thought Well fargo merchant sevice would be the obvious choice so if there were any problems I would have my bank on my side. I have a small cabinet business and most customers pay me with a check but one contractor that I do alot of business with only wants to use his AMEX card, so basically I have signed up for Mercahnt service for one client. About a month ago I was collecting a $9,300. deposit on a job and accidentally pressed the zero thinking I was pressing the decimal point so I ran a charge of 93,000.00 by mistake, both of us saw the mistake and since I dont run credit cards every day ( mayby 3 times a month) It freaked me out and I immediatly tried calling the customer service wich takes so long to get to a human, the customer said to just refund or credit him back the balance aprox $83,000.00. Fast forward to the time the Merchant service takes the fees and I get Charged on the total 93,000 wich amounted to $2300.00 more than if the mistake was not made. The $93,000.00 was never put in my account, nobody from the merchant service called to ask or tell me that I should have just cancelled the transaction, Wells fargo said that AMEX would not refund the 2300. dollars so I would not get my money back and that I could be charged up to $1,400. in fees next month for the mistake also. I dont know how they think this is morally right, I talked with a customer service rep from AMEX and he said this happens and they would have no problem refunding the money but since wells fargo is my merchant service that I would have to get the refund from them. SOMEBODY IS NOT BEING HONEST.

This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

I finally reached the end of my contract with WF Merchant Services. My last statement listed 24 separate fees! And I only ran eight transactions through this account. They raised my rates without warning. They did not offer a better rate when I complained. Crooks, Liars and Cheats.

This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

I been banking with WF. An officer fr the bank convinced me to Wells Fargo Merchant Services. Thats when my nightmare began. They don’t disclose anything. So I asked a lot of questions before signing. But after a month , I got lots of surprise fees came. To call customer service is a headache. They dont listen to you. It seems they have this ready answer and will let you pay 500$ termination fees. They just want to charge lots of money fr your bank account. Too many undisclose fees. Not worth my time with this Wells Fargo Merchant. I tols them I will bring this to the social media and they gave me $250.00 termination fees. I agreed and I just fount out Wells Frago Merchant Services still continue to charge me monthly fees .

This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

They cold call our store. Asked for the previous owner, who passed away two years ago, then tried to tell us that they were informing us about services… and it wasn’t a sales call. I asked to be put on the do not call list. WF said that they didn’t have one. I asked for their sales telephone number. Couldn’t get it. When I asked for their manager, they hung up on me.

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This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

Wells Fargo has been charging as much in “extra” fees as they have been charging me for processing fees for years. I was paying an effective rate of over 6%. Three months ago I switched to another processor but they keep charging me the “extra” fees even though they are no longer processing my credit cards. I have been trying to get them to close the merchant account but they are not co-operating. It looks like they only way I can stop them is by closing my bank account and opening a new one, which is going to be a big pain. Do NOT use these people.

This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

I agree with the other reviews. There is no integration or even communication between the bank and the credit card merchant services. The application process was complicated and inefficient, it is difficult to tell what services are available, verification over the phone was tedious after all that they cannot help you. All in all, a nightmare.

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This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

I wish there were 0 stars possible. I would like to warn everyone about WELLS FARGO MERCHANT SERVICES. WELLS FARGO MERCHANT SERVICES should be prosecuted for fraudulent misrepresentation. They do not disclose anything negative when you sign up, including their termination fee of $500. After you sign up, you are basically captive for 3 years unless you want to pay that fee. For asmall business, with no experience in this sort of service (ie, taking credit card payments, etc), it is easy to fall in their trap, and this can be devastating. Their fees are exorbitant and their customer service is pitiful. If you want any specifics, please email me directly. I am going to find every possible outlet to warn again Wells FargoMerchant Services. I am also a lawyer, and One day when I have the time, I may attempt to initiate a class action suit against them.

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This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

Lisa..I would be very interested in hearing from yu if you do deside to proceed with something….I have recently considered contacting an attorney myself as they gave me specific instructions by mail to do with regard to a chargeback and a date to do it by..I was also told the same via phone….when I called back after said date to see what stautus was and next step if any…I was told that case was closed on 9/22/16….the date of the letter they sent me…as well as 8 days prior to verbal discussion….Their reply was that the letter should not have been sent…it was computer generated and that the rep that I spoke with ( and her notes do support what I say she said) “misinformed me”…they apologize….THATS IT!! I said they need to do something to fix this…” although I with there was something we could do, the case is closed and we cannot reopen..again we are very sorry for the mistake”….We are a small business but we do an average of 24k a month with them…and all they will do is say sorry…not good enough!!……Ill come down off my soap box now…anyway…please email me if you proceed against them. Marie Huskins

This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

WFMS is horrible! I am a one person glass art small business. In April I registered for my business tax id, which somehow sleezy Wells Fargo retrieved my info, matching it with my mortgage info. What began with an email telling me I qualified for free accounts, has resulted in me losing hundreds of dollars in bank fees and mysterious charges, along with a lease that will cost me $700 to get out of. They totally scammed me, and had I not “known somebody” it would have cost me an additional $500 when I cancelled my business account. Why they chose to feed on a disabled person trying to earn a little money is beyond me. I am taking all our accounts elsewhere; this after over 10 years with Wells Fargo. Shameful

This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

Wow what a scam! I wish I had done more research but after 30 years of a successful banking relationship with WFB I guess I expected better. I was told clearly over the phone that my cost would be a $95 setup fee (for what I’m not sure), $5 per month and 3-4% of the transaction to accept credit cards over the phone “touch tone processing”. I used it a couple of times and it worked well and the money was transferred quickly. Then I got a statement and realized they were charging me the anticipated $5 per month, $.35 per transaction (not a big deal, they were big $) but also charging me $10 per month for a paper statement I never asked for. I got fed up with it and arranged to do CC transactions with another entity that I already do work with. I then called WFB Merchant Services to cancel. Surprise! on page 44 of a 56 page internet document of legalese that is briefly mentioned in the actual agreement is the only mention of a three year term with a $500 minimum cancellation fee. What a crock. If they had a competitive product they could keep customers with service but instead they punish them for leaving. I find it ironic that their phone tree has a specific selection for cancelling an account. It must be a really big revenue generator for them. When I finally got to someone who could actually cancel the account I told them there was no way I was going to pay $500 just to go away. I begrudgingly agreed to $250 just to get it over with but I feel like I need to take a shower after such a screwing. Don’t do business with these crooks, and if you do don’t let them charge you more than $250 to release you from their trap.

$445 in fees and unexpected cancellation fees for 9 transactions over three months.

That’s not the WFB I know and love!

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This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

Wells Fargo Merchant Services is an absolute scam. I was conned into switching from my old merchant to Wells Fargo Merchant Services, under the claim that I was going to save a lot of money.

The sales rep was high pressure and conned me into believing I was going to save money. Well, it’s been 2 years and I’m paying at least 50% more annually in fees than I was paying before. I barely process any transactions, maybe 1 every few months, but I’m locked into a 3 year contract. The rep did not tell me it’s a 3 year contract. But when I called back, he said “You signed the contract”. Somewhere in the dozens of pages of legal BS, it says 3 year contract with $500 early termination fee.

Well, I wish I cancelled and just paid that $500 fee right away, because I’ve spent over $1000 in fees and I STILL have to pay $500 to get out of the contract, or else pay for another year of rising rates. Every month I’m charged a different amount. They won’t tell me the amount so some months it just randomly bills me twice what it was the previous month. They are the biggest scam artists in the merchant services industry.

Save yourself a headache and process with someone else. Wells Fargo Merchant Services BLOWS and I’m cancelling ALL of my personal and business bank accounts because of their bull ****. Wells Fargo, you are hurting your loyal, innocent customers. There is no reason to treat your customers like dog crap. We are paying your bills!

I foresee the end of Wells Fargo & all subsidiaries within the next 25 years. Mark my word.

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I completely agree with your assessment. I am 2 years away from the end. Do you think I should just pay the $500 fee and be done with them? Do you know of any other venue to warn people against Wells Fargo Merchant Services?

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Agree with all of you. Wish I had read this before I was pushed into getting WF Merchant Services by the CSR at the bank. Been on the phone with them 4 times today and no one can explain why I was charged 10% on last month’s cc transactions. So on the 5 time I told them to close the account, bc I was going back to Square. That’s when I was informed of the $500 early termination fee. I asked the lady if I never used the cc reader again, what would happen. She informed me I would be charged $20 a month regardless! They are scammers!!! When you purchase a cell phone, they let you know up front that there is a early termination fee. Why cant they!!!!

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Do not sign up with these guys at all for cc processing. I was with current company for 7 years. Wells Fargo made all sorts of promises about how they would save me money on cc processing. They had statements, etc. I sign on with them all of a sudden with ic rates my cc processing is 3 times what it was before. Now they are mad at me. I cancel my contract, They charge me 1350 to do so for lease, 500 for wells fargo, and 200 for the machine they lost. I saved this much not processing with them for the last six months so I am happy that I am once again saving money. The wells fargo banker was yelling at me because he told me to process a certain way that I cant do with my business. Now I am closing all of my wells fargo accounts which was over 40000 dollars and going banking elsewhere. They do a great job of getting rid of their customers. Never again will I bank with wells fargo. This is legal theft and a bunch of bs.

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I think everyone should be aware that there is a clause in the contract (hard to see because it just has you initial i little box that says you went online and agree to the terms and conditions.) These terms and conditions are a 50page document online. Somewhere in that 50 pages… it says that you agree to a 3 year contract. I think this is completely deceptive and my sales rep said there was no contract. I closed down my business and got stuck paying the fees for two years. I would recommend checking out other companies….

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Wells Fargo is the WORST merchant service company! they give you the run around, you can’t talk to anyone on the phone and their rates are the worst in the business! they are thieves! Was with them for years and just changed merchant services, and now realized how many “Bill Back’s” and misc charges they were making! I am now saving almost an average of 500 dollars a month. They are a disgrace of a company!

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We are a small family business. We recently had our Wells Fargo Merchant Services account terminated for reasons we still do not understand. The determination was apparently made by one person in their security department who was not only totally unhelpful but extremely rude during this process. This entire experience has been not only embarrassing and stressful, but expensive. We were told we could use the account for 30 more days, but all funds would be “held”. Now we are left with the hassle of an ongoing battle with First Data to try to get the four year “uncancellable”contract cancelled on equipment we are no longer allowed to use. What a nightmare! We are in the complicated process of closing all Wells Fargo accounts and switching banks. Be VERY careful dealing with Wells Fargo and their business department.

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Wells Fargo Merchant Services is a first class scammer. Do not do any business with them. I will never enter into any agreement with any of their representatives. They are cheaters and liars. Their rating deserves a–100

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Wish I had read these reviews before getting into a contract with Well Fargo Merchant Services. A great sales lady with a great pitch and lots of out right lies talked our owner into switching to save money. After the second month it was apparent the bill doubled and all questions about saving were responded with utter BS. To cancel is $500 +1900 = $2400 so they robbed our business pretty good for just several months.

Lots of time on the phone listening to lies and BS.

Is there any class actions? I would pay twice as much to see these thieves people brought to justice.

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We are Wells Fargo customers for nearly fifteen years. (Previously Wachovia/First Union days without a problem. Well I should say First Union, Wachovia, and now through acquisition we are deeply unhappy and horrified Wells Fargo customers, but not for long. To my point, we decided to close an amazing Merchant Warehouse credit card processing account to move our entire relationship to Wells Fargo. We were a Merchant Warehouse client for five years without one problem. We generated $2.5MM in sales the third year with Merchant Warehouse. With that being said, we decided to move our credit card processing to Wells Fargo considering their banking speacialists were always begging us to move our relationship. Well, we did and what a mistake we made. Lets get to the break down, within the first two months we processed 440 transactions (I.E 440 towing jobs) generating $88,000 dollars in revenue for their DDA account (Business Checking/General Ledger) not to mention the credit processing department. Consequently we called their customer service department to ask why we didnt see a deposit of $5,000 dollars on Monday morning from the work over the weekend. They stated that the risk department closed our account and will be holding our funds for up to 180 days. They also stated, “we will allow you to keep processing transactions with WF for the next 30 days until you find a new merchant account.” So I asked, “so will the funds be deposited into our account?” The representative said, “No those funds will also be held for 180 days.” What a horror story, they want me to give them more funds that they can hold? I asked the representative why they closed our account, they said its because 4 customers out of the 440 complained about our services and they were unhappy with the tow/price and/or dates it was completed. More over, because of this high risk towing business with less than a 1% dispute ratio they closed my business account/personal accounts, put a credit restraint on the account but not a debit restraint allowing all outstanding checks to go through causing the account to go negative. They even closed an employee account and held $1,400 dollars of her money even though she had nothing to do with the business. However, they left our very financial sound well over six figure mutual fund in their securities department, safe and sound. And my last little fact about them. On another note, we added our son Brian to our safety deposit box as a beneficiary. Not an owner, a beneficiary. He didn’t sign any safety deposit box agreement, know about it, he wasn’t present on the addition as a beneficiary. None of the above. Well, we decided to go on a cruise for 10 days a month ago. What do you know our safety deposit box was locked and we couldn’t access the box due to our son in a civil legal matter with a past landlord due to his mistake. Although we all make mistakes and he is learning his lesson which we do not ignore, his legal liability shouldn’t roll over to our box due to him as a POD. That would be like your neighbor getting into a legal matter with your homeowners association and you being held responsible because hes your neighbor. He isn’t on our accounts, he isnt a signer, he is only a POD/Beneficiary. Now we have missed our cruise cannot acccess our box and asked for help with the legal department regarding the frozen box which they have suggested to get an attorney because they cannot speak to me. So now, we are going to find the most aggressive attorney that can make this situation right. Our mission is to be vigilante for the rights of the American Citizen that is truly not doing anything wrong. And to stand up for all the other consumers that have been taken advantage of and put in financial distress. We have also wrote the Attorney General, FCC, and other governing bodies. To top it off its not finished.They added us to a TMF or MATCH list so we are unable to get a traditional merchant account because we are labeled as HIGH RISK on a shared list of companies, however, we didnt have a problem with the first merchant provider we were using for credit card processing. Consequently, we are still unable to get a new merchant account because they said im on a list and our account is labeled as fraud/high risk. Meanwhile, I have the four chargebacks that caused us to get “shut down” and they are customers that are complaining a vehicle being transported from Florida to California took an extra day to get to California. I mean that sounds like a Nigerian scam? Come on Wells Fargo, you didn’t have to have your cake and eat it too. I mean the driver drove 3,000 miles which is 7 days of driving to deliver the vehicle.And because the driver was a day late the customer wants his $1,000 dollars back? Friendly fraud was in the billions this year based on consumer reports. I am a victim, and I have been taken advantage of by Wells Fargo. We are unhappy, hopeless in what to do, and need others to see this message. We hope you can help. Please let us know your thoughts.

The Cardozo Family

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wells fargo and first data are the worst of the worst. I had acustomere who gave me an order for a large commercial fan , sadly this was my first and last deal with this gang of thives. 15880.00 is floting around somewhere,, I never got it my customer stated the funds were removed from his account the same day. 12 days later I asked them to let me reverse the transaction I was told my account was closed anno longer has itd they could not refund the money as they could not verify funds were available.. they should have looked in their own account. .that has to be where the money is.as I never got the money, and my customer said it was gone from his master cards.

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Join Costco as a business. They probably still offer merchant services. They are much less expensive. I don’t swipe cards, and have an excellent record, and they offered me 2 percent. They offer merchant services to their business customers.

I went with Flagship – am in the process. They are the largest merchant services company. Don’t need a merchant terminal there since I don’t swipe cards. The deal was spectacularly better. Flagship seems, to me, so intelligent that they could listen to your history and offer you merchant services.

You could also open up another business and get merchant processing for it, and then combine the volume of both.

I wish you luck.

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We switched from Wells Fargo Merchant to Chase Paymentech at one of our restaurants after 2 years with Wells. Chase is MUCH better. Lower fees and no random fee changes.

Wells Fargo is TERRIBLE. I used them because we use Wells Fargo bank. While we like the bank, merchant is terrible. We had interchange plus pricing with a 14/cents fee. After 5 months (on a 3 year contract) we noticed they doubled our rate to 28/cents. We called to complain and they said “we sent you a letter”.

For our second restaurant, we stayed with Wells due to a 3 year contract. We just found out that they changed our interchange plus pricing on debit card to a “bundled rate” of 1.1% + 30 cents vs .05% + 21% interchange pricing!! This was $300+ extra a month savings we lost.

We have now moved all locations to Chase. I recommend avoiding Wells Fargo.

This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.